Nobody had ever put things to him by the right end, and when he once
let me do it for him, it was quite a revelation, and he has been so
happy and prosperous that he hardly knows himself. Poor boy, there
is something very honest and true about him, and so affectionate! He
is a little like his uncle, and I can't help being fond of him. Then
Robin is just as devoted to Jock, though I can't say the results are
so very desirable, for Jock _is_ a monkey, I must confess, and it is
irresistible to a monkey to have a bear that he can lead to do
anything. I hear that Robin used to be the good boy of the
establishment, and I am afraid he is not that now."
"But can't you stop that?"
"My dear, nobody could think of Jock's devices so as to stop them,
who had not his own monkey brain. Who would have thought of his
getting the whole set to dress up as nigger singers, with black faces
and banjoes, and coming to dance and sing in front of the windows?"
"There wasn't much harm in that."
"There wouldn't have been if it had been only here. And, oh dear,
the irresistible fun of Jock's capering antics, and Rob moving by
mechanism, as stiff and obedient as the giant porter to Flibberti-
gibbet." Carey stopped to laugh. "But then I never thought of their
going on to present themselves to Ellen in the middle of a mighty and
solemn dinner party! All the grandees, the county people (this in a
deep and awful voice), sitting up in their chignons of state, in the
awful pause during the dishing-up, when these five little wretches,
in finery filched from the rag bag, appear on the smooth lawn, mown
and trimmed to the last extent for the occasion, and begin to strike
up at their shrillest, close to the open window.
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